"Four Score and Seven Years Ago..." --Abraham Lincoln

Students in Mrs. Hesseltine's U.S. History Lab have been taking part in a "Show What You Know" project whereby students have the choice to show what they know about the Gettysburg Address via a choice of iPad apps. Students chose between creating a video mashup of the Gettysburgh Address (similar to the mashups by Ken Burns and others at http://www.learntheaddress.org/), or creating a comic strip, or Adobe Voice video telling the story of the Gettysburg Address. Students have been throughout the school video-taping teachers, administrators, and fellow students in an effort to pull together some awesome mashups of the Gettysburg Address. Thank you to all who took the time (and had the patience) to participate. Samples of student projects are below...I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! --Mrs. Hesseltine

Mystery Skype

As many of you know, Mrs. Hesseltine's U.S. History lab is a registered Skype Classroom; therefore, students in 7th Grade U.S. History took part in a Mystery Skype with another classroom somewhere in the world! It was the job of students on both ends of the Skype call to figure out where the other classroom was located using only 20 'yes or no' questions. Students were successful in asking questions, answering questions, and eventually (within a 40 minute class period) narrowing down the partner school's location. Rather than telling you where the other school was located, I think we should keep the mystery going...to find out, you will need to find a primary source (someone who witnessed and/or participated in the Skype call)!

About the Author

Mrs. Jennifer Hesseltine teaches United States History at the Malone Middle School in Malone, New York. When not at school, Mrs. Hesseltine can be found researching innovative ways to peak student interest in learning. Mrs. Hesseltine was recently accepted into the first cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators, the education initiative of TED Talks. Mrs. Hesseltine is also a contributing author of the Teaching Channel Blog, and has also contributed ideas to the TED-Ed Blog and Education Week Teacher with Larry Ferlazzo. Contact Mrs. Hesseltine via email at jhesseltine@malonecsd.org, or via Twitter @jenhesseltine.